Welcome to the home of SwiftCraftyMonkey Formulating Inc.! Join Susan as she obsesses about cosmetic chemistry and other things (some possibly related to monkeys)! Here you’ll find over 5,000 posts and formulas written over the past 16 years for everything from lotions, creams, and body butters to hair care products to fancy facial products filled with actives and cosmeceuticals! Enjoy the site without distractions – no ads, pop ups, sponsored posts, affiliate links, “one weird tricks” – all supported by readers like you.
I’m afraid that comments on all posts will have to undergo moderation until the spammer who is going through every post on my blog is finished. I promise the only comments to be deleted will be those spam comments. Sorry about this, but it has to be done until the spammer is finished bothering us...
If you want to play along with Newbie Tuesday and make a lotion on the 24th, here are a few substitutions you can make if your supplies aren’t in on time… Oil – Yes, you can get oils from the grocery store! (Click here for that post.) Butter – You can generally get cocoa butter...
The camphor essential oil we find at our suppliers tends to be white camphor or camphor white essential oil (Cinnamomum camphora). It’s steam distilled then rectified to remove the poisonous elements. It contains limonene, 1,8-cineole, camphor, linalool, piperitone, eugenol and safrole. Piperitone is a monoterpene ketone with a minty odour. Eugenol is a phenylpropene that can be...
I’m starting this series I’m calling Newbie Tuesday! It’s time to stop reading and get into your workshop and make something awesome! Think of it as a lotion-along…maybe not. I’m not happy with that compound word. I’ll find something else for future posts. Here’s how I think this is going to work. This week we’ll...
Camphor is a component in essential oils (for instance, lavender can have a camphorous odour in some species). It’s used a lot in the food industry to flavour sweets and cough products, and it’s used in embalming, fireworks, and rust prevention. Solid camphor balls are used as a moth repellant. In cosmetics, it’s considered a...